Radio frequency connection arrangement

ABSTRACT

A radio frequency transmission arrangement comprises a ground plate having an aperture comprising a slot with an elongate cross-section and substantially parallel sides, and a first and second transmission line. The thickness of the ground plate is greater than a width of the slot. The first transmission line comprises a first elongate conductor on a first side of the ground plate and has an end terminated with a first termination stub. The second transmission line comprises a second elongate conductor on the opposite side of the ground plate and has an end terminated with a second termination stub. The first transmission line is arranged to cross the slot at a point adjacent to the first termination stub, and the second transmission line is arranged to cross the slot at a point adjacent to the second termination stub.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/839,296, filed on Aug. 28, 2015, entitled “RADIO FREQUENCY CONNECTIONARRANGEMENT,” issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 9,837,697 on Dec. 5, 2017, whichclaims the benefit of priority to Great Britain Application No. GB1502461.5, filed on Feb. 13, 2015, entitled “RADIO FREQUENCY CONNECTIONARRANGEMENT,” the contents of both of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a radio frequency circuitimplementation for connecting a transmission line to another atransmission line, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to aradio frequency transmission arrangement for connecting a radiofrequency signal from a transmission line on one side of a ground plateto a transmission line on the other side of the ground plate.

BACKGROUND

In modern wireless systems, such as for example cellular wireless andfixed radio access wireless networks, there is a need for equipmentoperating with radio frequency signals, such as radio transceiverequipment in user equipment or at base stations or access points, whichis economical to produce, while having high performance at radiofrequencies. Increasingly high radio frequencies are being used asspectrum becomes scarce and demand for bandwidth increases. Furthermore,antenna systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, often employingarrays of antenna elements to provide controlled beam shapes and/or MIMO(multiple input multiple output) transmission. Typically, radiofrequency circuits are constructed with unbalanced transmission linesfor transmission of radio frequency signals between components of thecircuit, such as between amplifiers, filters, detectors, antennas andmany other types of radio frequency component. An unbalancedtransmission line comprises a signal conductor, such as a printed trackof a circuit board, and a ground structure, such as a ground plane of acircuit board or a conductive ground plate, such as a milled aluminiumplate. If one transmission line is connected to another transmissionline, the signal conductor of one transmission line needs to beconnected, at least at radio frequency, to the signal conductor of theother transmission line. It is also important that there is a good radiofrequency connection between the ground structures of the respectivetransmission lines. This ensures a low loss connection between thetransmission lines and, by ensuring that the conductors are referencedto the same ground voltage, reduces pick up of spurious signals.

Electronic equipment may be constructed with a ground plate having radiofrequency electronic circuitry on both sides of it. For example, aground plate may be a backing plate for an antenna array, and a radiotransceiver may be mounted on the other side of the backing plate fromthe antenna array. There is typically a need to connect signals from oneside of the ground plate to the other, for example between the antennaarray and the transceiver.

Conventionally, signals may be connected through a ground plate usingco-axial radio frequency connectors. Such co-axial connectors aretypically made to tight mechanical tolerances and are relativelyexpensive, often being gold pated for example to ensure a goodelectrical connection and avoid corrosion. A poorly made or corrodedconnector may result in a poor radio frequency connection, resulting insignal loss or may even produce a connection with non-lineartransmission characteristics resulting in generation of spurious signalcomponents. There is a need for a low cost, high performance radiofrequency connection, preferably tolerant of mechanical misalignment,between a transmission line on one side of a ground plate and atransmission line on the other side of the ground plate.

It is known to couple radio frequency signals between transmission lineson different layers of a printed circuit board using slot-coupledinterconnects. The publication “Slot-Coupled Double-Sided MicrostripInterconnects and Couplers” by Ho, Fan and Chang, 1993 IEEE MTT-SDigest, discloses slot-coupled interconnects for coupling radiofrequency signals between layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board,through an aperture in a ground plane forming a layer of the printedcircuit board.

It is an object of the invention to mitigate the problems of the priorart.

SUMMARY

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a radio frequency connection arrangement comprising:

a ground plate having first and second opposite sides and an aperturepassing through the ground plate from the first side to the second side,the aperture comprising a slot, the slot having an elongatecross-section in the plane of the first side of the ground plate, thecross-section having substantially parallel sides extending along thelength of the cross section, and the slot having a width which is thedistance between the parallel sides of the cross-section of the slot;

a first transmission line comprising a first elongate conductor disposedon the first side of the ground plate in a substantially parallelrelationship with the first side of the ground plate, the firsttransmission line having an end terminated with a first terminationstub; and

a second transmission line comprising a second elongate conductordisposed on the second side of the ground plate in a substantiallyparallel relationship with the second side of the ground plate, thesecond transmission line having an end terminated with a secondtermination stub,

wherein the first transmission line is arranged to cross the slot at apoint adjacent to the first termination stub, and the secondtransmission line is arranged to cross the slot at a point adjacent tothe second termination stub, and

wherein the thickness of the ground plate is greater than a width of theslot.

This allows signals to be coupled from the first transmission line onone side of a ground plate to the second transmission line on the otherside, and vice versa, without an electrically conductive connectionbetween the conductors of the first and second transmission lines. Thisprovides a connection which causes low loss to radiofrequency signals,and avoids introducing intermodulation distortion due to metal-to-metalconnections. The thickness of the ground plate, greater than the slotwidth, allows the ground plate to provide mechanical support. It is notobvious that an aperture through such a thick ground plate could be usedto couple signals from one side to the other with low loss.

In an embodiment of the invention, the aperture is an air-filled cavity.

This allows a particularly low-loss connection to be established.

In an embodiment of the invention, the ground plate is composed of anon-conductive moulding having an electrically conductive coating.

This allows the ground plate to be light weight and to be moulded in ashape to include the aperture, which may be an economical manufacturingmethod. The non-conductive moulding may comprises a plastic material andthe conductive surface may comprise copper.

In an embodiment of the invention, the ground plate is composed ofmetal, which may be cast aluminium. This provides a ground plate withgood strength. The apertures may be economically produced by moulding.

In an embodiment of the invention, the thickness of the ground plate isgreater than four times the width of the slot. This allows signals to becoupled with low loss through a particularly thick ground plate.

In an embodiment of the invention, the width of the slot is greater than1 mm and the thickness of the ground plate is greater than 5 mm.Preferably, the width of the slot is in the range 1 to 3 mm and thethickness of the ground plate is in the range 5 to 15 mm. This providesa combination of low loss radio frequency coupling and economicalmanufacturing due to the avoidance of tight dimensional tolerances.

In an embodiment of the invention, the aperture comprises a terminationcavity at each end of the slot. This improves coupling of radiofrequency signals through the aperture, giving low loss. Preferably, thetermination cavity is cylindrical.

In an embodiment of the invention, the slot has a length of less than awavelength at an operating frequency of the radio frequency transmissionarrangement. This improves coupling of radio frequency signals throughthe aperture, giving low loss.

In an embodiment of the invention, the slot has a length of less than0.3 of a wavelength at an operating frequency of the radio frequencytransmission arrangement. This gives a compact implementation of theradio frequency transmission arrangement with low loss.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first transmission line crossesthe slot directly opposite the point where the second transmission linecrosses the slot.

This allows the first transmission line to be arranged to be directlyabove the second transmission line.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first transmission line crossesthe slot at a point offset along the slot from the point where thesecond transmission line crosses the slot.

This allows the first and second transmission lines to be offsethorizontally. This may be convenient in some circuit layouts.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first transmission line is formedby a printed track on a polyester film, disposed with an air gap betweenthe polyester film and the ground plate.

This gives a low loss implementation with good coupling.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first and second terminatingstubs have a diameter of substantially 0.1 of a wavelength at anoperating frequency of the radio frequency transmission structure.

This provides a low loss implementation.

In an embodiment of the invention, each said substantially cylindricalterminating cavity has a diameter of substantially 0.1 of a wavelengthat an operating frequency of the radio frequency transmission structure.

This provides a low loss implementation.

In an embodiment of the invention, the ground plate has a protrusionfrom the second side, the protrusion being arranged to pass through anopening in a metal plate disposed in a substantially parallelrelationship with the ground plate, and the aperture being arranged topass through the protrusion, whereby to provide a radio frequencyconnection through the metal plate to the second transmission line.

This allows a metal plate to be used to reinforce the ground plate,without affecting the radio frequency performance of the couplingbetween the first and second transmission lines through the aperture,since the aperture need not be formed in two materials having a joiningsurface between them.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe following description of preferred embodiments of the invention,which are given by way of example only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an exploded view of a radiofrequency transmission arrangement in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a cross section of the radiofrequency transmission arrangement of FIG. 1 in an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an exploded view of a slot-coupledinterconnect according to the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a cross section of theslot-coupled interconnect of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an exploded view of a radiofrequency transmission arrangement in which the first transmission lineis printed on a thin dielectric film in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a cross-section of a radiofrequency transmission arrangement in which the first transmission lineis printed on a thin dielectric film an in which the ground plate has aprojection projecting through an opening in a metal plate in anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an exploded view of a radiofrequency transmission arrangement in which the first transmission lineis offset laterally from the second transmission line.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

By way of example, embodiments of the invention will now be described inthe context of a radio frequency connection arrangement in which a radiofrequency transmission path is provided from one side of a ground plateto the opposite side of a ground plate, the ground plate being a backingplate for an array of printed antenna elements. However, it will beunderstood that this is by way of example only and that otherembodiments may involve transmission paths between transmission lineshaving various grounding arrangements, not necessarily in the context ofantenna systems, where a radio frequency connection is desired between atransmission line on one side of a grounded structure and anothertransmission line on the other side of a grounded structure. In anembodiment of the invention, an operating frequency of approximately 5GHz is used, but the embodiments of the invention are not restricted tothis frequency, and lower operating frequencies of 1 GHz or less andhigher operating frequencies of up to 60 GHz or higher frequencies maybe used.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a radio frequency connectionarrangement in an embodiment of the invention arranged to connect radiofrequency signals from a first transmission line comprising signalconductor 12 through a ground plate 13, to a second transmission line onthe other side of the ground plate comprising signal conductor 17. FIG.2 shows a cross-section of the radio frequency arrangement of FIG. 1. Ascan be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ground plate 13 is provided with anaperture 14, 15 a, 15 b passing through the ground plate from the oneside of the ground plate 13 to the opposite side. The thickness of theground plane t is greater than the width of the slot w, typically by afactor of 4 or more. A slot width of 2 mm has been found to give goodcoupling performance with a ground plane thickness of 10 mm, forexample. Signals are coupled through the aperture from the firsttransmission line to the second transmission line, and vice versa. Thisallows signals to be coupled through the ground plate without anelectrically conductive connection between the conductors of the firstand second transmission lines. As a result, the use of co-axialconnectors is avoided, saving cost, and mechanical constructiontolerances are relaxed, in particular when more than one connection isprovided through a ground plate. Furthermore, this provides a connectionwhich causes low loss to radiofrequency signals, and avoids introducingintermodulation distortion due to metal-to-metal connections.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, it is known to provide slot-coupledinterconnect connections between signal tracks on different layers of aprinted circuit board. A conventional via connection between layers of aprinted circuit board is provided by a plated through hole, being a holedrilled through the board to intercept the tracks to be joined, andplated with copper to connect the intercepted tracks electrically. In aslot-coupled interconnect as disclosed in the publication “Slot-CoupledDouble-Sided Microstrip Interconnects and Couplers” by Ho, Fan andChang, 1993 IEEE MTT-S Digest, and as illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 4,radio frequency signals are coupled between layers of a multi-layerprinted circuit board, through an aperture in a ground plane forming alayer of the printed circuit board. As shown in exploded view in FIGS. 3and in cross-section in FIG. 4, a signal track 3 is printed on adielectric substrate layer 1 of a printed circuit board and has aterminating stub 2. The layer in the printed circuit board below thesubstrate layer 1 is a ground plane 4, typically composed of a thinlayer of copper. The copper layer has a dumbbell-shaped aperturecomprising a slot 6 between terminating parts 5. Below the ground plane4 is another dielectric substrate layer 7, on the lower side of which isprinted another signal track 9 which has a terminating stub 8. Signalsare coupled from one signal track through the aperture to the othersignal track.

The ground plane of FIGS. 3 and 4, being a layer of a multilayer board,is thin, and much thinner than the width of the slot. It is not at allobvious that signals could be coupled with low loss through an aperturein a ground plate having significant thickness, let alone a ground platethat is thicker than the width of the slot. Radio frequency fields wouldbe expected to be different in a deep, three-dimensional aperture ascompared to the fields in an essentially 2 dimensional ground plane.

Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, a ground plate 13 has first and secondopposite sides and an aperture 14, 15 a, 15 b passing through the groundplate from the first side to the second side, the aperture comprising aslot 14. As can be seen, the slot 14 has an elongate cross-section inthe plane of the first side of the ground plate, and the cross-sectionhas substantially parallel sides extending along the length of the crosssection. The slot has a width w which is the distance between theparallel sides of the cross-section of the slot as shown in FIG. 1.

Signal transmission in the connection arrangement is reciprocal, so thearrangement may be used to connect radio frequency signals from thefirst transmission line to the second transmission line or from thesecond transmission line to the first transmission line. The firsttransmission line comprises a signal track, or first elongate conductor,12, which in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 is printed on a dielectricsubstrate 10, and the ground plate 13 provides a ground reference forthe first transmission line. The ground plate may be a backing plateproviding a ground reference and mechanical support for an array ofpatch antenna elements which are connected to the first transmissionline by a feed network.

The second transmission line comprises a second signal track, or secondelongate conductor 17 printed on a dielectric substrate 16 and theground plate 13 similarly provides a ground reference for the secondtransmission line. The second transmission line may be connected to aradio transceiver circuit board, the radio transceiver being arranged totransmit and/or receive using the antenna array. The ground plate mayhave a substantially planar surface underlying the first transmissionline, which may include apertures or hollows, for example resonantcavities for patch antennas, and may have a non-uniform cross-section,for example comprising fixing posts. The ground plate may, for example,be milled from an aluminium block, cast, or moulded. The term “ground”is used to mean a radio frequency reference, for example for anunbalanced transmission line, which does not necessarily require adirect current (DC) connection to an electrical ground or earth. Thefirst and second transmission lines are unbalanced transmission linesreferenced to the ground plate.

As may be seen, the first transmission line comprises a first elongateconductor 12 disposed on the first side of the ground plate in asubstantially parallel relationship with the first side of the groundplate. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a dielectric substrate 10, such asepoxy resin circuit board material, separates the first elongateconductor from the ground plate. In the embodiment shown, the spacingbetween the first elongate conductor and the ground plate is greaterthan the thickness of the ground plate.

The second transmission line comprises a second elongate conductor 17disposed on the second side of the ground plate 13 in a substantiallyparallel relationship with the second side of the ground plate. As canbe seen in FIG. 1, the second transmission line has the second elongateconductor 17 terminated with a termination stub 18. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 1, the terminating stub 18 of the second transmission linehas a diameter of substantially 0.1 of a wavelength at an operatingfrequency of the radio frequency transmission structure, which has beenfound to provide a low loss implementation. The terminating stub 18provides a match to the characteristic impedance of the transmissionline, which may be typically 50 Ohms, in conjunction with the impedancepresented by the aperture. The spacing between the second elongateconductor and the ground plate may be greater than the thickness of theground plate.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the first transmission line has the firstelongate conductor 12 also terminated with a termination stub 11,typically having the same dimensions as the terminating stub of thesecond transmission line.

It can be seen that the first transmission line is arranged to cross theslot, in the embodiment of FIG. 1 at a point adjacent to the terminationstub 11, and the second transmission line is also arranged to cross theslot, at a point adjacent to the termination stub 18.

As shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the aperture is anair-filled cavity. In alternative embodiments the aperture may be filledwith a dielectric material. However, it has been found that anair-filled cavity gives low loss characteristics.

The ground plate may be composed of a non-conductive moulding, forexample a moulding of a plastics material, having an electricallyconductive coating, for example copper, allowing the ground plate to belight weight and to be moulded in a shape to include the aperture. Thismay provide an economical manufacturing method, and it has been foundthat apertures may be economically produced by moulding. In particular,it has been found that apertures having slots of width of 2 mm orgreater are particularly suitable for production by moulding.

Alternatively, the ground plate is composed of metal, for example castaluminium, which may provide good strength.

It has been found that the width of the slot is advantageously greaterthan 1 mm and the thickness of the ground plate is advantageouslygreater than 5 mm. Preferably, the width of the slot is in the range 1to 3 mm and the thickness of the ground plate is in the range 5 to 15mm. This provides a combination of low loss radio frequency coupling andeconomical manufacturing due to the avoidance of tight dimensionaltolerances.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the aperture comprises atermination cavity 15 a, 15 b at each end of the slot 14. Thetermination cavities may, for example, be cylindrical as shown. Thisimproves coupling of radio frequency signals through the aperture,giving low loss and extended bandwidth. In an embodiment of theinvention, the slot has a length of less than a wavelength at anoperating frequency of the radio frequency transmission arrangement,which improves coupling of radio frequency signals through the aperture,giving low loss. It has been found that a slot having a length of lessthan 0.3 of a wavelength at an operating frequency of the radiofrequency transmission arrangement gives a compact implementation of theradio frequency transmission arrangement with low loss. Typically a slotlength of 0.2 wavelengths, the slot length excluding the diameter of thecylindrical terminating cavities 15 a, 15 b, has been found to give goodperformance, and each said substantially cylindrical terminating cavityhaving a diameter of substantially 0.1 of a wavelength at an operatingfrequency of the radio frequency transmission structure has also beenfound to give good performance, providing a low loss implementation.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first transmission linecrosses the slot directly opposite the point where the secondtransmission line crosses the slot, allowing the first transmission lineto be arranged to be directly above the second transmission line.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the invention in which the firsttransmission line is formed by a printed track 21 on a polyester film19, disposed with an air gap between the polyester film and the groundplate. The polyester film may be very thin, typically 0.05 mm or lessthick. This reduces dielectric loss effects as the electric fieldsbetween the conductor and the ground plate are mainly in air. This givesa low loss implementation with good coupling. As shown in FIG. 5, raisedsections of the ground plate 23, 26 may be provided to support thepolyester film, or film made of another dielectric material, maintainingthe air gap. The second transmission line may be formed with adielectric film and air gap in a similar manner to the firsttransmission line. Optionally, grounded conductive covers may beprovided over the first transmission line 21 and/or the secondtransmission line 17, arranged to cover the termination stubs 18, 20also. The second transmission line, in the embodiment shown, comprises aprinted microstrip track 17 on a dielectric substrate 16. The covers aresufficiently separated from the transmission lines to avoid changes inthe microstrip behaviour but help avoid radiation loss. For example, theseparation of the cover from the transmission line may be greater thanthe separation of the transmission line from the ground plate 22. Theground plate 22 may have recessed regions 24, 29.

FIG. 6 shows a cross section of an embodiment of the invention, in whichthe ground plate 22 has a protrusion 31 from the second side, theprotrusion being arranged to pass through an opening in a metal plate 32disposed in a substantially parallel relationship with the ground plate.The aperture 14 is arranged to pass through the protrusion, so that aradio frequency connection is provided through the metal plate 32 to thesecond transmission line 17.

The metal plate 32 may be used to reinforce the ground plate, and toprovide heat sinking. The ground plate may be plated plastic, which mayhave poor thermal conductivity. The protrusion of the ground platesurrounding the aperture through a hole in the metal plate avoids theaperture passing through a join between the metal plate and the groundplate, which may otherwise affect the radio frequency performance of thecoupling between the first and second transmission lines through theaperture due to the discontinuity of the ground plane.

As also shown in FIG. 6, the signal conductor of the first transmissionline 21 may be connected to an antenna patch radiator element, shown insection with reference numeral 33. The ground plate may have a recessprovided under the antenna patch radiator element, to improve radiatingand reception performance of the patch. It is advantageous to have athick ground plane, thicker than the width of the slot of the aperture,in order to accommodate the recesses and the metal reinforcing platebetween the planes of the first and second transmission lines. Thesecond transmission line may be part of a printed circuit board, forexample the conductive tracks could be printed on a layer of amultilayer printed circuit board, for example as part of a radiotransceiver. As shown in FIG. 6, the dielectric film 19 may be locatedover protrusions, also referred to as pips, 30 a, 30 b. This mayfacilitate keeping the film 19, which is typically flexible, planar andwith a controlled spacing from ground plate 22.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the invention in which the firsttransmission line 36 crosses the slot 39 at a point offset along theslot from the point where the second transmission line 41 crosses theslot. This allows the first and second transmission lines to be offsethorizontally. This may be convenient in some circuit layouts. In theembodiment shown, the first transmission line 36 has a termination stub35 and is formed as a printed track on a dielectric substrate 34. Inalternative embodiments the dielectric substrate could be a film. Theground plate 37 has an aperture 39, 38 a, 38 b. The second transmissionline comprises a printed track 41 with a termination stub 42 printed ona dielectric substrate 40.

The skilled person would understand that other shapes than those showncould be used for the termination stubs. Typically a shape would bemodelled on a computer simulation package and adjusted to give a goodimpedance match resulting in a low return loss.

The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples ofthe invention. It is to be understood that any feature described inrelation to any one embodiment may be used alone, or in combination withother features described, and may also be used in combination with oneor more features of any other of the embodiments, or any combination ofany other of the embodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modificationsnot described above may also be employed without departing from thescope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A radio frequency transmission arrangementcomprising: a ground plate having first and second opposite sides and anaperture passing through the ground plate from the first side to thesecond side, the aperture comprising a slot, the slot having an elongatecross-section in the plane of the first side of the ground plate, thecross-section having substantially parallel sides extending along thelength of the cross section, and the slot having a width which is thedistance between the parallel sides of the cross-section of the slot; afirst transmission line comprising a first elongate conductor disposedon the first side of the ground plate in a substantially parallelrelationship with the first side of the ground plate, the firsttransmission line having an end terminated with a first terminationstub; and a second transmission line comprising a second elongateconductor disposed on the second side of the ground plate in asubstantially parallel relationship with the second side of the groundplate, the second transmission line having an end terminated with asecond termination stub, wherein the first transmission line is arrangedto cross the slot at a point adjacent to the first termination stub, andthe second transmission line is arranged to cross the slot at a pointadjacent to the second termination stub, and wherein a thickness of theground plate is greater than a width of the slot.
 2. The radio frequencytransmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the aperture is anair-filled cavity.
 3. The radio frequency transmission arrangement ofclaim 1, wherein the ground plate is composed of a non-conductivemoulding having an electrically conductive coating.
 4. The radiofrequency transmission arrangement of claim 3, wherein thenon-conductive moulding comprises a plastic material and the conductivesurface comprises copper.
 5. The radio frequency transmissionarrangement of claim 1, wherein the ground plate is composed of metal.6. The radio frequency transmission arrangement of claim 5, wherein theground plate is composed of cast aluminium.
 7. The radio frequencytransmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the thickness of the groundplate is greater than four times the width of the slot.
 8. The radiofrequency transmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the width of theslot is greater than 1 mm and the thickness of the ground plate isgreater than 5 mm.
 9. The radio frequency transmission arrangement ofclaim 1, wherein the width of the slot is in the range 1 to 3 mm and thethickness of the ground plate is in the range 5 to 15 mm.
 10. The radiofrequency transmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the aperturecomprises a termination cavity at each end of the slot.
 11. The radiofrequency transmission arrangement of claim 10, wherein each terminationcavity is cylindrical.
 12. The radio frequency transmission arrangementof claim 1, wherein the slot has a length of less than a wavelength atan operating frequency of the radio frequency transmission arrangement.13. The radio frequency transmission arrangement of claim 12, whereinthe slot has a length of less than 0.3 of a wavelength at an operatingfrequency of the radio frequency transmission arrangement.
 14. The radiofrequency transmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the firsttransmission line crosses the slot directly opposite the point where thesecond transmission line crosses the slot.
 15. The radio frequencytransmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first transmission linecrosses the slot at a point offset along the slot from the point wherethe second transmission line crosses the slot.
 16. The radio frequencytransmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first transmission lineis formed by a printed track on a polyester film, disposed with an airgap between the polyester film and the ground plate.
 17. The radiofrequency transmission arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first andsecond terminating stubs have a diameter of substantially 0.1 of awavelength at an operating frequency of the radio frequency transmissionstructure.
 18. The radio frequency transmission arrangement of claim 11,wherein each cylindrical terminating cavity has a diameter ofsubstantially 0.1 of a wavelength at an operating frequency of the radiofrequency transmission structure.
 19. The radio frequency transmissionarrangement of claim 1, wherein the ground plate has a protrusion fromthe second side, the protrusion being arranged to pass through anopening in a metal plate disposed in a substantially parallelrelationship with the ground plate, and the aperture being arranged topass through the protrusion, whereby to provide a radio frequencyconnection through the metal plate to the second transmission line.